A Collection: Springtime, Re-learning Embroidery, and at the Sewing Machine

Sharing a few fun things happening here, in the midst of "stay-at-home" coronavirus days!

First of all, we're starting to dream of planting our veggie, herb, and flower gardens! It looks like this coming week will bring warmer, beautiful spring weather! In the meantime, we're making plans and getting new ideas for a new season of outdoor fun.

Another fun thing has been to start up a new hobby, perfect for these weeks of "stay-at-home" ... embroidery! I had done some cross-stitch embroidery many years ago, but this type of embroidery is a new venture for me ...

This blog post (click here) by author/blogger Jessica Turner was the inspiration for me to get started! I purchased the "Isolate & Stitch" pattern (pictured above) from a great Etsy shop (click here). It focuses on stitching 15 different flowers to learn a variety of the embroidery stitches. The tutorials were initially on Instagram, but are also available on YouTube (click here). 

I've completed the first row, and also am in process of organizing the embroidery threads that I had from the past, as well as those I purchased from Amazon recently. 

I also came across a YouTube tutorial for making masks ... click here. 

Using up fabric that I already had on hand, I sewed up some for the two of us, and also made some to mail off to a brother of mine in Portland, who lives alone and had requested some. This was a good reason to get out my sewing machine again!

Though we have given up a lot, and miss being with our family and friends, these little joys are a gift! I'm thankful.

Have you picked up some new hobbies during these past weeks of staying at home?